Where Are You Birding This First Weekend of December 2010?

December has arrived, delivering its bounty of holiday frenzy and frozen precipitation. Your experience of this month may of course differ, but mine is colored (white) by the snow already deposited upon my doorstep. But December is a festive month, rich with holiday cheer. It’s also a birdy month in many parts of the world. Are you prepared to embrace the extremes of December? How will you be doing that this weekend and will birding be involved? Share your plans in the comments below!

I’m headed down to NYC this weekend to take in the Giants-Redskins game and watch Donovan McNabb get mauled by the Big Blue defense. My New York Metro excursions usually augur avian-aspirational adventures with my former friend Corey, but he decided to head down the North Carolina to chase birds with Nate (still my friend, but if Corey finds a Bachman’s Sparrow, I may reconsider.)

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he’s also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.

Blackie Spit tomorrow, perhaps Maplewood Saturday, maybe Stanley Park Sunday: all relatively local. But the appearance this noon of a Northern Hawk Owl at Reifel may change that; I’ve only ever seen one in BC, and it would be a ‘lifer’ for Alison.

If all goes as planned, an organized walk tomorrow morning at Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers, NY. (Mike, you’re welcome to join us——meeting there at 8:20!) That’s probably all the birding I’ll be able to fit in until I get to Atlanta.